Google Cloud release notes for February 24–27, 2026 cover updates across GKE, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Cortex Framework, and more.
•GKE (2026-R8) version updates set 1.34.3-gke.1318000 as the new default for Regular, Extended, and Stable channels, and 1.35.0-gke.3047001 for the Rapid channel
•Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (gemini-3.1-flash-image) is now available in public preview with improved pricing and latency for image generation
•BigQuery will restrict legacy SQL usage starting June 1, 2026, based on whether projects used it between November 1, 2025 and June 1, 2026
•Cortex Framework 6.3.4 adds Airflow v3 compatibility for Composer DAGs and upgrades Meta API from v21 to v25
•Cloud Trace now supports configuring default locations and Cloud KMS keys for new observability buckets (public preview)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) - Release notes